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PAC and POD of Sugars and Sweeteners for Gelato (Reference Table)

PAC is the anti-freezing power of an ingredient relative to sucrose, which is set at 100: an ingredient at PAC 190 lowers the freezing point 1.9 times as much as the same mass of sucrose. POD is its relative sweetening power, again with sucrose at 100. The table below lists both indices for every sugar, syrup, sugar alcohol, rare sugar, high-intensity sweetener and bulking agent in the Free Gelato Balancing database, per 100 g of product as sold, water included.

How the numbers were calculated: each value comes from the ingredient's measured composition (total solids, sugars and water, with the sources cited on its own page) and its sugar profile. PAC uses the dry-basis coefficient of each sugar, derived from molar mass with sucrose as 100 (dextrose 190, fructose 190, lactose 100, invert sugar 190); POD uses the relative sweetness of each sugar (dextrose 70, fructose 170, lactose 16). The product value is the dry coefficient multiplied by the solids fraction, which is why a syrup at 70% solids shows a lower PAC than the same sugar in crystal form. Dextrose shows how this works: anhydrous and monohydrate dextrose are the same sugar, POD 70 and PAC 190 on a dry basis, but the usual monohydrate is 91% solids, so it reads POD 64 and PAC 173 per 100 g, while anhydrous dextrose reads about 70 and 189. This is the same engine the balancer runs on every recipe.

Two families need a rule rather than a single coefficient. A starch hydrolysate, maltodextrin or glucose syrup, is a mixture of chains rather than one molecule, so its coefficients track the dextrose equivalent: on dry matter PAC is about 1.9 times the DE and POD about 0.7 times it, anchored on dextrose at DE 100 with 190 and 70. A DE 19 maltodextrin therefore reads 36 and 13 dry, 34.3 and 12.6 per 100 g at 95% solids. Maltodextrin is not PAC zero, and lower DE means lower PAC, not the other way round. Honey and the varietal honeys are computed sugar by sugar from their measured fructose, glucose, maltose and sucrose, not by treating the jar as invert sugar: that is why the generic line reads PAC 142 and POD 91 per 100 g rather than the 156 and 105 that the invert shortcut gives, and why the five honeys here sit within a few points of each other on PAC.

To cite this table, use the citation in the "How to cite" block below and name the date you read it: values are corrected when better sources appear. Each ingredient name links to its own page, where the same values appear with their sources.

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PAC and POD of 46 sugars and sweeteners used in gelato, sucrose = 100
Notes
Sucrose (table sugar)sugar100100100100Reference point: PAC 100 and POD 100 by definition of both scales.
Acacia Honeysyrup951428281Monofloral honey, fructose-rich. The extra fructose shows up in POD, not in PAC: acacia and generic honey score the same anti-freezing power.
Agave Syrupsyrup1031307768Mostly free fructose, hence the high PAC for a liquid.
Alluloserare sugar70190100100D-psicose. About 70% of sucrose sweetness with the PAC of a monosaccharide.
Apple Sugar (66%)sugar881229966Spray-dried apple juice on a maltodextrin carrier; 66% natural fruit sugars.
Brown Rice Syrupsyrup26717976.5High-maltose syrup; behaves like a glucose syrup.
Chestnut Honeysyrup921398376Dark monofloral honey. POD and PAC are computed from its own sugar profile, not from the generic honey line.
Coconut Blossom Sugarsugar901019790Unrefined palm sap sugar, about 86% of its sugars are sucrose.
Coconut Sugarsugar941009892Sucrose-dominant; behaves almost exactly like table sugar.
Corn Syrupsyrup39627878Retail corn syrup, about DE 42.
Erythritolsugar alcohol70280100100PAC 280 is a ceiling: erythritol is poorly soluble when cold, so only the dissolved part counts.
Glucose Powdersyrup44729595Spray-dried glucose syrup, DE 38 to 40.
Glucose Syrupsyrup40648080Liquid glucose syrup, DE 42, 80% dry solids.
Glucose Syrup DE21syrup18.4408080Low DE: long chains, little sweetness, little PAC.
Glucose Syrup DE33syrup28488080PAC and POD rise with DE.
Glucose Syrup DE42syrup40648080The standard confectioner's grade.
Glucose Syrup DE60syrup52888080High DE: more free glucose, higher PAC.
Honeysyrup911428281Generic honey. POD and PAC computed sugar by sugar from the USDA average composition, per 100 g of product with the water included.
IMO 900 + Thaumatin (Moonsugar)bulking agent80809998Branded 1:1 sugar replacer: isomaltooligosaccharide bulk sweetened with thaumatin and steviol glycosides.
Inulin (Native Chicory)bulking agent1028958Fructan fiber with 6 to 10% residual free sugars; fat mimetic.
Inulin HPbulking agent08950.5Long-chain inulin (DP 23 or more), under 0.5% free sugars.
Inverted Sugarsyrup87.51337070Liquid invert, 70% solids; dry-basis coefficients POD 130, PAC 190.
Inverted Sugar (High POD)syrup105142.57575Liquid invert, 75% solids, higher sweetness grade.
Isomaltsugar alcohol47.5379595Polyol from beet sugar; about half as sweet, low PAC.
Lactosesugar16100100100Milk sugar. Low sweetness, PAC equal to sucrose, limited solubility.
Liquid Glucosesyrup40648080Confectioner's liquid glucose, DE 42.
Maltitolsugar alcohol8599100100Disaccharide polyol; the closest polyol to sucrose on both indices.
Maltodextrinbulking agent12.634.39595Generic gelateria line, DE 19. On dry matter PAC is about 1.9 times the DE and POD about 0.7 times it, so it adds body with almost no sweetness and a third of sucrose's PAC.
Maltodextrin (Anhydrous)bulking agent12.634.39595Low-DE glucose polymer, the same DE 19 line as the generic maltodextrin.
Maltodextrin DE12bulking agent821.79595DE 12; the least sweet and the least anti-freezing maltodextrin here, as the 1.9 x DE rule predicts.
Maltodextrin DE18bulking agent1232.59595DE 18, one step under the generic line.
Maple Syrupsyrup66676766Mostly sucrose in about a third of water.
Muscovado Sugarsugar96999695Unrefined cane sugar with its molasses.
Orange Blossom Honeysyrup9314482.580Monofloral citrus honey. POD and PAC computed from its own sugar profile.
Polydextrosebulking agent9.657.6960Glucose-polymer fiber; bulking agent with low sweetness.
Sorbitolsugar alcohol6017999.599.5Crystalline polyol; strong freezing-point depressant.
Stevia Powderhigh-intensity3000001000Steviol glycosides, about 300x sucrose. POD is per 100 g of extract; dosed in fractions of a gram.
Sucralosehigh-intensity6000001000About 600x sucrose by weight. POD is per 100 g of sweetener; dosed in fractions of a gram.
Sugar - Dextrosesugar641739191Crystalline glucose monohydrate, 91% solids; POD 70 and PAC 190 on a dry basis, so 64 and 173 per 100 g (anhydrous: about 70 and 189).
Sugar - Fructosesugar170190100100Crystalline fructose; the sweetest common sugar.
Sugarcane Molassessyrup66857560Only 60% sugars; the rest of the solids are minerals and non-sugar matter.
Syrup (Monin)syrup65656565Flavored cane-sugar syrup, 65 Brix; behaves as a sucrose solution.
Trehalosesugar42.8959595Crystalline dihydrate; dry-basis coefficients POD 45, PAC 100.
Trimolinesyrup991447676Commercial invert sugar paste (Trimoline), 76% solids by the gelato-table convention.
Wildflower Honeysyrup9114282.981.5Polyfloral honey; the sugar profile, and therefore POD and PAC, match the generic honey line.
Xylitolsugar alcohol100220100100Five-carbon polyol; same sweetness as sucrose, more than twice the PAC.

How to use these numbers

The PAC of a mix is a weighted sum. Take the grams of each ingredient in one kilogram of mix, multiply by its PAC divided by 100, and add everything up. A base with 160 g of sucrose and 40 g of dextrose monohydrate per kilogram gives 160 x 1.00 plus 40 x 1.73, about 229, before counting the lactose that milk solids bring. The balancer does this sum for every ingredient, including the ones that are not sugars.

Targets published on this site, for a display case at -11 to -14 °C: PAC 220 to 300 for milk gelato (220 to 280 for most flavors, up to 300 for chocolate and nut flavors) and 280 to 340 for sorbetto, which has more water and no fat to keep it soft. A quick check is to divide PAC by -20 for gelato and by -25 for sorbetto: the result is roughly the display temperature the mix is built for. Below the range the product freezes hard and serves icy; above it the product stays soft in the display case and melts fast on the spoon. The full reasoning and the exceptions are in What is PAC in gelato. The balancer applies these bands per base type.

POD works the same way: grams of each ingredient in one kilogram of mix times its POD divided by 100, summed. Targets published on this site: POD 140 to 200 for milk gelato and 200 to 270 for sorbetto per kilogram of mix, the scale the balancer shows (14 to 20 and 20 to 27 if you work per 100 g of mix). See What is POD in gelato. For stevia and sucralose the POD in the table is per 100 g of the sweetener itself, which is why the number is in the tens of thousands: 0.5 g of sucralose in a kilogram of mix contributes 0.5 x 600, that is 300 POD points on the per-kilogram scale, and no PAC at all.

Every value is per 100 g of product as sold, water included, so syrups and honeys show lower figures than the sugars they contain. To compare on a dry basis, divide by the solids fraction: inverted sugar at PAC 133 and 70% solids is PAC 190 dry. Two practical cautions: lactose from milk, cream and milk powder counts toward PAC even though nobody weighs it as a sugar, and erythritol only depresses the freezing point while it stays dissolved, so its PAC of 280 is a ceiling that holds at low dosage, not a value you can multiply freely.

How to cite

Suggested citation:

Freire, M. (2026). PAC and POD of Sugars and Sweeteners for Gelato (Reference Table). Free Gelato Balancing App. https://freegelatobalancing.app/ingredients/data/sugars-pac-pod

Canonical URL: https://freegelatobalancing.app/ingredients/data/sugars-pac-pod (CSV: https://freegelatobalancing.app/data/sugars-pac-pod.csv)

License: this table and the CSV are published under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0). You may copy, redistribute and adapt them, including for commercial use, as long as you credit Free Gelato Balancing App and link to this page.

Compiled by Marco Freire, chef and gelatiere. Sources for each value are on the ingredient's own page, and how we calculate explains the scale and the rules behind them. Table generated on 2026-10-25.

Looking for the rest of the database? Browse every ingredient or see every ingredient with PAC, POD, MSNF and solids in one table.